Diary of a Rural Manager!

What is unofficial tagline of Brand Rural Management Programme at XIMB : “We Try Harder” A quick question is fired by an aspirant, “Why does anybody ever want XIMB-RM as first choice in admission ?” Yes, we all know that “XIMB-RM is only No. 2.” Yet the reply is simple: “ We try harder in nurturing our budding rural manager because we have to make a point. It's always the second ranker who works harder and learns a lot more in the process.” The origination of the answer is not to create a cute, gimmick, but instead it was – and is -- a business philosophy that every XIMB-RM students holds true. Each and every student of rural management knows that he must work harder and learn extensively than their counterparts. XIMB - RM focus on frank and truthful statements about our ranks and education philosophy. This institution is a Sangam (confluence) where we seek to find balance between mainstream business and development of people on margins. As I write this, I'm enj...

On Monday, March 25, 2013 at 6.00 P.M. we had our 22nd Convocation. Shri Jaspal Singh Bindra, Executive Director and CEO-Asia, Standard Chartered PLC of Standard Chartered Bank Ltd. came as the Chief Guest. I finally convocated from the Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar (XIMB). The degree of rural manager was awarded not only in letters but also in spirit. It will be impossible to say when so many of us will gather at the same place again. May be in upcoming 10- 15 years ! This could not have been achieved without emotional support and confidence by my parents, Prem bhaiya, Chandan, Shreyash, Abhishek and college friends like Gaurish, Gautam, Anshumani, Partha, Abhijeet etc. As an overpriced assets, we all are out of the walls of the college campus. I suddenly understand why values like humility, sincerity and honesty are more important than qualities like intelligence and achievements. A person's most useful asset is not a head full of knowledge but a heart full of l...

Sparsh: Development in a Trimester of rural management - 2... : Continuing from the 1st part of the Development series in RM , I will move towards the 2nd part of the learning in the field of Rural Manag...

29th Week - 25th December to 31st December 25th December-   A day dedicated in the library for preparation of the upcoming exam. There is an inspiring talk by Pradeep Kashayp, CEO & Founder, MART at a TEDx event at Hyderabad (on 'Creating an Endearing Organisation - The MART story' . He been advocating entrepreneurship courses for the business school and I taught courses in XIM- Bhubaneswar in 1993 called ‘Start your own business’ . XIMB was the second institution after IIMA which had this course. Now most of the B- schools have entrepreneurship courses. MART had also developed 3M model that is an innovative approach to initiating micro enterprises based on the three tenets of micro finance, micro markets and micro planning. I was also reading about legendary management thinker Peter Drucker . In a 1984 essay he persuasively argued that CEO pay had rocketed out of control and implored boards to hold CEO compensation to no more than 20 times what the rank and f...

28th Week - 18th December to 24th December 18th December-  I again visted to the same village with more bonding and enthusiasm. While talking to villagers, I was overwhelmed by their efforts to overcome difficulty of credit, regular income, irrigation and education. Despair is frightening at this situation when you love the people but placed in the system you despair of. Farmers were poor but they were trying to cope their life with dignity and hope. They have been cheated on the development projects before and still they were helping us with full enthusiasm. They are to be admired not pitied. The field part of RLLE was over. This one month experience was a memorable one. I felt strongly that  the strength of India lies in the resilience of poor not the money power of Indian middle class.  Without the support of such agricultural workforce, the great Indian middle class bubble would have busted long back. I finished remaining day work and started journey for one ...

27th Week - 11th December to 17th December 11th December - PRA done at Hinjerpenth at Nandapur block in Koraput district. Progress is an illusory term used in the development projects. That was the crux of the learning that I got working there. 12th December - PRA done at Renga Village in Simliguda block. This village was a prosperous one and caste division was visible to an outsider also. There was great difficulty for us in gathering people come from all hamlets together for FGD (Focussed Group Discussion). Me and MM were also misjudged initially as the agents of mining companies during survey. We have to clear our project mission and our background to them for tuning. 13th December - The remaining PRA tools were applied at Renga Village in Simliguda block. A lot of information was extracted in excess of our project to get an overview of the people mindset and village level conditions. Still, I was very careful in not giving any sort of political overtones in rapport buildi...

26th Week - 4th December to 10th December 4th December - I attended the meeting for the assessment of our RLLE project at CTCRI Bhubaneswar. We were well prepared but the data was in hard copy. Overall, a good show at the end of the day. We are advised not to interfere in the political and caste problems of the village/region. I read about Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act in  Swaminomics article  by economist SA Aiyar as it is related to the recent political heating of proposed Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the fast-growing retail sector. 5th December - The whole day passed in the training of the Community Participatory Rural Appraisal (CPRA) tool at CTCRI. The training was of 3 hours but the financial estimation for next 15 working days took a lot of the time. 6th December -   I didn't go to the training due to a cold and lack of sleep. I am reading, again and again, an article 'Youthpal bill' by Rashmi Bansal who is making emphas...

25th Week - 27th November to 3rd December 27th November - I changed the old costly hotel to a cheap one. Lot of Condoms were previously used in the room when it was cleaned in front of me ! I learned that Cigarettes, Liquor and Tea have strong sales distribution network. It was an off day. 28th November - There is no photo taken in the field trip of poverty and hunger as I didn't want to glamourize the poverty. I am travelling between mountains and rice fields. Tobacco chewing is seen in both gender. There is unavailability of mobile network of airtel and vodafone . Only BSNL and Reliance has better outreach here. Accessibility of mobile network is there ;to block level and ;on highways only. There are no signals at GP (Gram Panchayat) level. Naxal affected block is identified for risk mitigation in the data collection through unofficial sources. 29th November - Government officials are cooperative but the pace of work is quite slow here. The brand name of XIMB wor...

24th Week - 20th November to 26th November 20th November - I woke up early for SKYPE meeting with a scientist at IPC. There were classes on Sunday. RMAX election. The election revealed one more basic fact about group behaviour. People don't like monopoly of a subgroup in a close community. The popularity meter affects the deserving candidate due to democratic nature of the elections. 21st November - Not selected in Summer Internship of another company after GD round. I need to improve my communication skills and a lot of introspection is needed in the career strategy. One job opportunity was told to us by our program coordinator : PMRDFs . The Ministry of Home Affairs has identified 60 districts of the country as Left Wing Extremism (LWE) districts. The Government of India has launched a special programme in these districts called Integrated Action Plan (IAP). PMRDFs (Prime Minister's Rural Development Fellows Scheme)will basically function as development facilitators,...

23rd Week - 13th November to 19th November 13th November : Sunday evening with Lucky Ali. A happening end of the leisure day. 14th November : "A person's a person, no matter how small" - Dr. Seuss, author . I learned this lesson today but don't remember where. 15th November : We presented CCD (CAFE COFFEE DAY) in marketing class and comes unscathed of any negative criticism. ADM lecture was good. Most stupid questions are those that are never asked. It was a really good quote from Gaurish Manerkar. 16th November : People don't know how to use mail. That can only I say now on public forum. Otherwise a regular day. 17th November : It was last class of ITM and PROJM. A happy end of trimester is coming soon. Learned about Brian Wasnik and Duncan J. Watts. Duncan J. Watts (born 1971) is a principal research scientist at Yahoo! Researcher and the author of the book Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age. I am producing here his famous article in ...

22nd Week - 6th November to 12th November 6th November - Sunday. SRM lecture is missed . There was good news that I am shortlisted for interview of MSME. There was election for core place-com committee in the evening. 5 hours of marathon and participatory process was over with 22 candidates (14 Voluntary and 8 at the moment). Politics inside the branch has started officially. 7th November - Interview for MSME was not much satisfactory. But I studied a lot about Clusters of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and livelihood generation through Cluster Development . M S Swaminathan Research Foundation is doing good work in the area of hunger and food security. As per there Vision : A society where everyone has access to food and nutrition security. And Mission : Ensuring food and nutrition security of vulnerable sections by empowering them, by promotion of focused interventions, by capacity building of various stakeholders, and by research and advocacy. The ‘ Rep...

21st Week - 30th October to 5th November 30th October:  The Mid-term exam is over and the whole day has passed in watching movies and roaming around. I read a good quote today from C K Prahalad that states: Executives are constrained not by resources, but by their imagination. All Aboard The Slave Ship : An open letter to Young India, callous and comfy in its cocoon. 31st October: Winters and studies post mid-term have started. I have been allotted Meghalaya for RLLE (Rural living and learning experience) and hoping to see the true picture of BHARAT vis a vis India. My CV was also not shortlisted for a summer internship at TERI, hence, I was quite disappointed today. Hoping for a new start. Gaurish, Partha, and AP give much moral support to overcome this grief. An old Interview with students of PGDM-RM students (Future Rural Managers) 1st November: Apple's Think Different advertising campaign. 1997-2002 re-consolidated my conclusion that thinking differently a...

20th Week- 23rd October to 29th October 23rd October:  Learned about TSCR (Trend, Seasonality, Cyclicity and Random) 24th October:   An Introduction to Livelihood Promotion : Traditionally the solution to the problems of poverty was conceived as an increase in income levels through the generation of employment. However this vision has changed in the last two decades. This publication shows how it is possible to promote livelihoods as a means for poverty reduction. One cannot feed the hungry on statistics - David Lloyd George MEARS- 85 % of savings accounts and 60 % of current accounts act as fixed deposit. RPLS- Muhammad Yunus : Poverty was not created by the poor. There is nothing wrong with these people. They are just as capable and inventive and have as much potential as others. The system simply never gave them a chance to grow. If you really want to solve poverty you should enable people to take matters into their own hands. 25th October: Didn't recall ev...

19th Week- 16th October to 22nd October 16th October : One fine day is Sunday. Still post Gramotsava, there was 2 hour session on EQ & Leadership. I learned that there is always lack in abundance. 17th October : The whole day just passed away. I did't think any productive work was done today. Still I was able to read one good article :- Ph.D. Thesis Research: Where do I Start? Notes by Don Davis, Columbia University. 18th October : FSA quiz was a disaster. Missed Kuru meeting and slept quite early at night. Since, I was roaming out in the morning, soft skill training session was also missed. Rediscovered Facebook Page of India - Rural Livelihoods.  For implementing the inclusive growth agenda, it is crucial to prop up agriculture, the soft underbelly of our economy.  The National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) should take charge of dry-land farming now by Ramesh S Arunachalam . 19th October : Alumni Talk was given by Mr.Patnaik. He is a rural managem...

18th Week- 9th October to 15th October 9th October:   I returned to the hostel yesterday. This week is mostly dedicated to Gramotsava 2011. Today, I checked a newspaper article on Gramotsava 2011 today. XIMB reaches out to masses through fair - Rural management students create a marketing base in nearly 50 villages. Gramotsava-2011, a rural marketing fair, is organised every year by the Rural Managers' Association of XIMB (RMAX). Thus, rural management students who engage in on-field marketing and data collection supplement theoretical lessons with practical experience. The uniqueness of the event in the rural management course offered in any college Gramotsava 2011 fair UPDATE Venue I: Mandarbasta, Khurda, Friday,14th Oct. Venue II: Chasakhanda, Cuttack, Saturday,15th Oct 10th October: On request of Shruti Thomas, I liked " Sustainable Housing ". Suddenly, a moral dilemma arose inside me. Do I like/support the product/service/community because it was made by ...

17th Week- 2nd October to 8th October It was a week that I spent completely at home. I was on the offline mode regarding XIMB. Hence, I will put down some videos for learning purpose for rural managers. Rural Development - The Challenge of Livelihood and Poverty Although there appears to be an enduring concern with India's poor within the policy circle and in public discourse, is this debate leading to new and innovative ideas on how to pull millions of Indians out of grinding poverty? What is the way forward? Should the emphasis be on skills development, agricultural development, microfinance, market access etc? What other models of rural development do we need to examine? How to avoid the pitfalls of rural marketing? PART1 PART2 PART4 PART5 PART6 PART7

16th Week --- 25th September to 1st October 25th September : Attended the class of P T Joseph. I shared answers of personal questions in the public. I disagreed with him about the revealing of private data in public. I am gaining guts each day to face down the powerful and say what needs to be said. And I hope that it should inspire introverts and progressives. Since, I am selected for first round of summer internship for TERI, I started studying for the interview. Q&A: Clean Energy for India’s ‘Base of the Pyramid’: WRI’s new report, in collaboration with CDF-IFMR, looks at the market potential for clean and renewable energy in rural India. POWER TO THE PEOPLE : Detail Report in PDF format . TERI has undertaken an initiative of Lighting a Billion Lives (LaBL) through the use of solar lighting devices. The Campaign aims to bring light into the lives of one billion rural people by replacing the kerosene and paraffin lanterns with solar lighting devices. In terms of ph...

15th Week --- 18th September to 24th September 18th September - There is complete lack of any participation of student in decding the course structure of Rural Management. Institute like IRMA (Institute of Rural Management) should be named IRDA (Institute of Rural Development); The camouflage of campus placement does not change the mentality of the faculties who push students towards NGO sector. There is call of "bottom-up development" in every rural management programs without being implemented on their own students ! The recording, identifying and acknowledgment of “every casualty of development propaganda” in a rural management programs is an idea whose time has come. Hope, the rebel voice of mine gets a fruitful result otherwise we all know that the people who produce half a revolution, dig their own grave. 19th September - MEARS : Mischief mongers dig their own grave. Parasite, below poverty line and ungrateful are the words used with full sarcasm by Prof S P...

Sparsh: Development in a Trimester of rural management : John Stuart Mill is right here: there is no development, democratic or economic, without an educated citizenry. Hence with this statement, ...

14th Week --- 11th September to 17th September 11th September - OB and RDA exams are over. Hence, there is formal closure of first trimester with few assignments. There is a difference between fresher and experienced student in the college regarding money. While both of them know how to spend money cautiously, the experienced candidate know how to accumulate money little by little for desired product. A pearl of wisdom from Partha. 12th September - One more installment of fees paid with my hard earned money. Missed SRP presentation due to headache. Demand Draft for 2nd trimester is ready. A special Talk given by Mr. Anshu Gupta who is the CEO of GOONJ (http://goonj.org/). A brilliant and inquisitive mind, he studied journalism as well as Advertising & Public Relations from one of the premier Institute in India (Indian Institute of Mass Communication), and then went on to do a Masters in Economics. While still a graduate student in 1991, he traveled to Uttarkashi, Nort...